Exploring Animal Rights in Multispecies Societies
Exploring Animal Rights in Multispecies Societies
A report on the Summer School Advancing Compassion: Exploring Animal Rights in Multispecies Societies.
Author bio: Mirjam van Elst is a storyteller, copywriter, and communications strategist.
In the first week of July, I participated in the Radboud University program 'Advancing Compassion: Exploring Animal Rights in Multispecies Societies'. As a storyteller, I help sustainable and plant-based organizations tell their stories. This way, more people can join their mission.
Stories are incredibly powerful. They can change lives, make or break careers, and even start revolutions. And that’s what I want: to ignite a plant-based revolution. Or at least, I want to contribute positively to it.
I love gaining knowledge, asking questions, and acquiring even more information. So, it was a logical choice to join the Radboud 2024 Summer School program organized by Cebuan Bliss and Sophia de Vries.
And it was amazing! It was fantastic to be in a group with all motivated participants and to listen to the incredibly passionate lecturers. So much passion, so much innovation, so much drive, it was incredible.
A snapshot of the program:
I saw and heard cows communicate, learned about a labor union for animals, visited a food forest, and examined my own backyard. I learned that if I want to make my garden more animal-friendly, there's still quite a bit of work to do.
We discussed animal and nature rights, philosophized about the Declaration of Animal Rights, and I gathered ideas for my own activism. My great love, storytelling, was also extensively covered.
Some of the amazing lecturers:
Susan Boonman-Berson spoke about multispecies communication.
Ingrid Visseren-Hamakers presented on transformative change.
We learned all about activism from Enric Noguera.
Maite van Gerwen gave us a workshop on human-animal conflict mediation.
Leonie Cornips showed us beautiful cow interaction (must watch!).
Marjolein de Rooij gave a presentation on the rights of working animals.
Jessica den Outer explained the rights of nature.
Michael den Boer helped us paint cities from the perspectives of other animals.
Wouter van Eck explained the 'intuitive laziness' which led to his thriving food forest.
It’s safe to say that there's still a lot of work to be done, in every area. Sometimes, this weighs heavily on me. There are times when I wonder what we’re doing all this for. Whether it’s achievable. Do I even want to live in this world?
To be honest, that feeling also overcame me at times during the Summer School. There’s so much to be done. But at the same time: if 20 people from around the world come to Nijmegen to learn more about our relationship with animals and want to take action, then it must be possible, right?
And to end with a thought experiment:
Do bears cross the road, or does the road cross their habitat? And suppose you change your mind because of this question. How does that make you feel?
Hereby, I want to extend a huge thank you to Cebuan Bliss and Sophia de Vries for a week full of inspiration. As well as all the lecturers, of course.
